Start from 30 curated places around Hay-on-Wye, GB, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Tomatitos Tapas Bar
An atmospheric bar on Lion Street under new ownership since late 2025, now run by the team behind Hay Castle Cafe. The space operates evenings as a wine and sherry bar with cheese and charcuterie boards, pop-up kitchen nights, and cocktails — the full tapas kitchen from the original incarnation is on hold pending staffing. Worth a drink but no longer a full-kitchen tapas dinner.
The Old Black Lion
A 17th-century inn near the old Lion Gate serving proper modern-British pub food that has won regional awards and a rosette. The crowd is a mix of walkers, paddlers and book-browsers, and Friday brings live jazz in the bar. The pick of the in-town pubs for a sit-down dinner.
Trails & outdoors
The Warren
An easy riverside walk of about 1.5 miles from the town along the Wye to the Warren common, on smooth well-kept paths good for families and dogs. It ends at the pebble beach and meadow where people swim and picnic. The simplest, prettiest leg-stretch from the centre.
Hay Bluff
A short but steep climb from the cattle-grid car park to the trig point on Hay Bluff, a half-mile or so up onto the escarpment edge for an outsized view. It is the quickest way to bag a real mountain-edge panorama without a long day out. Steep underfoot and exposed at the top.
Things to do
Hay Castle
Beyond the views, the restored castle runs a rolling programme of exhibitions, talks and workshops across its galleries, leaning into Hay's literary and cultural life. It is the town's main indoor cultural venue and a solid rainy-day plan. Pair the exhibitions with the cafe and the garden bookstalls for a full visit.
Booth's Bookshop & Cinema
Browsing the bookshops is the actual entertainment in Hay, and this three-floor emporium with an attached burger bar and a small cinema is the most immersive single stop. The science-fiction and fantasy rooms are a particular draw. Treat the whole building as an activity, not an errand.
Landmarks & sights
Hay Castle
A Norman castle and Jacobean mansion that sat as a burnt-out shell for decades and reopened after a long restoration as a small museum, gallery and cafe above the town. The tower and ramparts give the best overview of Hay's rooftops and the river bend, and the changing exhibitions lean local and literary. Worth the modest admission if only for the view from the top.
Richard Booth's Bookshop
The flagship shop of the man who declared Hay an independent book kingdom, spread over three floors of new and second-hand stock with a cafe and cinema attached. It is the anchor of the whole book-town idea and the easiest place to lose an hour you did not plan to. Go for the building and the range, not for a quick errand.